OK, so it’s not a restaurant but the hot dog cart at the Home Depot was always a quick, dependable snack. Not any more. I know the owner passed away last year, and apparently he took the recipe with him.

Stopped there today. The hot dog was extremely rubbery, I assume it was left over from yesterday. The bun was stale and the bottom half of it was hard, I assume it was left over from last week. The condiments (tomato, pickle) have gotten smaller. And I’m pretty sure that in the last 18 months that dog has gone from $1.75 to $2.75.

I give that hot dog stand three more months, at best, before it joins the former owner.

With the amount of time I've spent at Home Depot lately, I've had my fair share of Depot dogs. While I don't have the pre-passing away familiarity with the stand, I haven't had any problems with the dogs. Certainly nothing as bad as described in the OP.

That dog was flat out inedible. However, based on your ringing endorsement of their continued hot-diggity-dog goodness, I will give them another shot. Next time I will sample a bite as soon as they hand it to me, and if there is a problem, they'll be getting it back.